Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Del Norte pitcher Preston Daniels after Wednesday’s game.

By Ray Hamill — The top two teams in the Big 5 faced off at McKinleyville High on Wednesday, with the visiting Del Norte Warriors coming away with a statement win over a team that is expected to be their biggest challengers for this year’s conference championship.

With senior ace Preston Daniels delivering another huge performance on the mound, the Warriors won 3-1 to keep their unbeaten start to conference play going strong.

The Del Norte boys, who have played all five of their conference games on the road, improved to 5-0 in the Big 5 (11-4-1 overall) while stretching their unbeaten streak to 11 straight games.

Daniels now has three wins in three Big 5  appearances on the hill and he has allowed just five hits in those games, including four on Wednesday.

“That’s Presto taking care of business,” Del Norte head coach Jeff Cook said of the senior, who had eight strikeouts. “He was feeling it.”

Daniels was clearly fired up for the game, something that was evident from his reaction after the final out, and he told his coach he didn’t want to come out.

“We didn’t plan on pitching him out,” Cook said. “But he wanted to pitch the whole game. He wanted a complete game.”

Daniels got just enough offensive support from his Del Norte teammates, who managed just three hits but overturned an early one-run deficit with some opportunistic scoring.

Their three runs reached home plate on a walk with the bases loaded, a sac fly and a passed ball.

But this is a group of players that are taking full advantage of their opportunities, and a team that has given up one or less runs in four of their five conference games.

“We battled,” Cook said. “That was a good team win there. It feels like it’s starting to come together at the right time.”

The loss was just the third on the season for the Panthers, who dropped to 3-1 in the Big 5 and 12-3 overall.

It certainly wasn’t a bad performance, but the McKinleyville boys just didn’t have an answer for the dominating Daniels.

“Any time you lose it’s disappointing, but it was a good ball game,” McKinleyville head coach Mike Dobrec said. “When a kid throws like Preston did, there’s nothing you can do.”

Jackson Kelly drove in Hunter Carper on a sac fly in the bottom of the second inning to break the early deadlock, but that was the last of the scoring for the home team.

The Warriors answered with two runs in the top of the fourth to take a lead they would not relinquish.

The Panthers finished with four hits, one each by Carper, Rhythm Green, Riles Egbert and Kelly.

Kelly got the start on the mound and threw three linings, giving top two hits and striking out three.

Kolbey Stolpe threw one hitless inning in relief, before Carper closed out the game, pitching the final three innings and giving up just one hit.

“I thought defensively we played great,” Dobrec said. “We made all the plays. I thought the difference was the little things and Preston.

“You’ve got to tip your hat to him. Every time he steps on the mound he give his team a chance to win.”

Saxon Taylor continues to have a hot bat for the Warriors and was 2-for-3.

He hit a triple in the top of the sixth inning and would score moments later on a sac fly to give the visitors a two-run cushion.

Anthony Cardenas also had a base hit to round out a three-hit day for the Warriors.

Sophomore right fielder Damian Escalera and senior center fielder Aidan Rice both made some big plays for Del Norte, while senior Greyson Franklin “did a great job behind the plate,” according to Cook, and saved a run when it was still a one-run game.